Geranium multisectum N.E.Br.

Family: Geraniaceae
Common name: Crane's bill

Geranium multisectum is a lovely, soft herbaceous
perennial with masses of delicate mauve flowers in summer
and attractive soft foliage throughout the year. In the wild
it is found widespread in open marshy places throughout the
summer rainfall areas of southern Africa from the Eastern
Cape to KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, the eastern Free State and
the Mpumalanga highveld. Cuttings of Geranium multisectum
were collected in the Drakensberg a few years ago and very
successfully propagated and grown at Kirstenbosch.

Not
many indigenous geraniums, other than Geranium incanum,
are grown in gardens. At first glance these two geraniums
appear much alike, but they are really quite different in
their growth habit, leaf shape and colour, and flowering time.
Geranium incanumhas a more low-growing mounding
habit, greener, more finely divided foliage and its main flowering
season is spring. Geranium multisectum has a looser
habit and it grows a little taller, its leaves are not as
finely divided, are presented in a flattish star-like shape
and the overall effect is much greyer, and its main flowering
season is during summer.

Geranium
multisectum is a herbaceous perennial that forms loose
mounds about 30 cm high. As it gets older the lower stems
get thicker and woody, but most of the branches are soft green
and covered with tiny white hairs. The leaves are finely divided,
blue green above and almost white-grey below. The tips of
the leaves and parts of the stems are brushed with red. Throughout
the summer, flower buds appear in pairs at the tip of long
slender stalks, which divide many times and stand tall and
proud above the foliage. The plump buds unfold into single,
simple cup-shaped flowers with five soft mauve, almost transparent
petals that are marked with dark mauve veins. In the centre
of the flower, ten stamens surround the bright red stigma
and nectar glands that are frequently visited by bees.

The
individual flowers do not last for long and as soon as the
petals drop, the seeds start to develop. This process may
not be as colourful as the flowers, but is fascinating to
watch. From the centre the style (elongated projection from
the ovary which bears the stigma) or beak as it is commonly
known, grows longer until it stands upright like a candle
with a bright red tip. The ripe seeds are flung far and wide
by an explosive mechanism that is triggered once the seed
is ripe and dry. It is fun to see this happen by pressing
at the base of the dry beak and watch the tails arch and disperse
the seed.

The name Geranium is derived from an ancient Greek
word geranos, a crane, referring to the similarity
of the long beaked fruit (seed capsule) to the bill of the
crane. There are 300 species of Geranium found throughout
the montane tropics and temperate regions of the world, with
33 species in southern Africa. Many people find the difference
between Geranium and Pelargonium confusing for
both belong to the family Geraniaceae, and pelargoniums are
often commonly called geraniums. The difference is very easy
to see: it is all in the shape of the flower. Geraniums have
a very simple circular shaped flower with five equal sized
petals while the pelargoniums have huge variation in their
irregular shaped flowers that usually have two petals pointing
up and three petals pointing down.

Growing Geranium multisectum

Geranium multisectum is easy to grow from seed or
cuttings. At Kirstenbosch we mostly propagate them from cuttings
which can be made throughout the year. Seed can be sown in
spring or summer. Geraniums propagated from seed tend
to produce more vigorous plants.

Geranium multisectum can be used in many places in
the garden from pots, to rockeries, to herbaceous borders
as long as the plants receive full sun, well-composted soil
and regular watering throughout the year. For a herbaceous
plant this geranium can get quite old, and looks neat without
much pruning for many years. The fine blue-green leaves contrast
beautifully with lush green foliage such as that of the sea-rose,
Orphium frutescens, and Agapanthus species or
with other grey leaves like those of the succulent plakkie,
Cotyledon orbiculata and the neatly shaped white everlasting,
Helipterum argyropsis.

To find out if SANBI has seed of this or other SA species, please email our seedroom.
This page forms part of the South African National Biodiversity Institute's plant information website www.plantzafrica.com.